https://japanesewoodblockedition.com Tue, 26 May 2026 21:28:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 https://japanesewoodblockedition.com/2025/10/original-woodblock-by-yamazaki-toshinobu-of-war-hero-saigo-takamori-1877-ls212/ https://japanesewoodblockedition.com/2025/10/original-woodblock-by-yamazaki-toshinobu-of-war-hero-saigo-takamori-1877-ls212/#comments Sun, 05 Oct 2025 05:56:46 +0000 https://japanesewoodblockedition.com/2025/10/original-woodblock-by-yamazaki-toshinobu-of-war-hero-saigo-takamori-1877-ls212/ […]]]>









Original Woodblock by Yamazaki Toshinobu of War Hero Saigo Takamori 1877 LS#212. Kagoshima Senso Kiji (Record of the Kagoshima War). Heroic war print with Saigo Takamori beneath a full moon. A dynamic Meiji kassen-e (battle print) by Yamazaki Toshinobu, depicting the rebel leader Saigo Takamori standing resolute against a moonlit sky, powder-smoke billowing behind him and fallen troops at his feet. Issued at the height of public fascination with the Satsuma Rebellion (1877), the sheet pairs theatrical color-deep indigo uniform, vermilion accents-with documentary captions that frame the scene as a Kagoshima War record. The cartouche identifies Saigo ; this composition has become an emblem of Meiji hero-portraiture. In Tokyo’s Ueno park stands a very prominent and famous bronze statue of Saigo Takamori. Yamazaki Toshinobu (also recorded under the surname Saito ; given name Tokusaburo) was born in Edo in 1857 to a modest greengrocer’s family. At thirteen he entered the studio of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, and by his early twenties he was producing reportage prints-about thirty designs on the Satsuma Rebellion (1877). In 1878 he drew. For the Choya shinbun newspaper. Toshinobu later moved to Osaka, illustrating popular fiction (notably for the novelist Udagawa Bunkai), while also contributing to newspapers and continuing woodblock work. A bout of heavy drinking disrupted his output around 1880 and strained his friendship with Bunkai, a rift later mended through the writer Kanagaki Robun. In 1885 or 1886 he relocated to Kyoto as a newspaper illustrator, fell ill with pneumonia followed by meningitis, and died there in September of that year. (Record of the Kagoshima War). Subject: Saigo Takamori . Medium: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Format/Size: oban tate-e, approx. 14 × 9½ in. (36 × 24 cm). ; red artist seal at lower right (as issued). Condition: Good -rich color; light toning and minor edge wear; small top-edge trim; image area clean and strong. Notes: Classic Meiji nocturne with full moon, dramatic smoke plumes, offshore naval silhouette; a visually cinematic wall piece. Kagoshima Senso Kiji (Record of the Kagoshima War) Yamazaki Toshinobu , Japan, c. 1877 Woodblock print; oban tate-e – ink and color on paper Approx. Heroic war portrait of Saigo Takamori from Toshinobu’s reportage on the Satsuma Rebellion. The moon, billowing smoke, and fallen soldiers typify Meiji battle prints (kassen-e) that blended news and spectacle.

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A very rare authentic woodblock print of Yamazaki Toshinobu, pupil of Yoshitoshi Tsukioka. Serie is A Brief History of Japan, Subject is Tokugawa Ieyasu. It is rare to see a print of Ieyasu in armor, here fighting the Mikawa Ikko Ikki under a hail of arrows. Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Oban sized, 33cm tall.

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